Journalist and author Terry Glavin joined Power Struggle host Stewart Muir for a look at Canadian and world issues, and the directions Canada could and should take after the federal election. Here are some of the things they discussed:
ENERGY SOVEREIGNTY
Glavin says that if there is one conversation that we should have been having through the election, it’s energy sovereignty.
“To some extent, I think we were having it, but the overemphasis on pipelines, pipelines, pipelines for their own sake misses the point.”
For starters, Glavin argues, we need to build for ourselves. We need to be consuming our own energy before we think about exports. And we should place greater emphasis on stability and security and interprovincial trade.
CANADA & CHINA
Is Canada sleepwalking into China’s trap?
Last fall, Terry Glavin said the Trump administration would be a cabinet of “circus freaks and Bond villains.” Now, Glavin says Canada is being pulled between “two very dark stars” — the US and China.
Trump has blown up the international democratic order, and now, Glavin says, it’s quite possible that the coming century is China’s century.
And he argues that the deeper that Canada associates with China, the more subservient we will become, and the more vulnerable and susceptible to the whims of the world’s most successful and dynamic “torture state.”
TRADE POLICY
Canada is simply too reliant on the US, and needs a trade policy that strengthens our relationships with the world’s liberal democracies.
And now we’re seeing calls for a Canada-Australia-New Zealand-United Kingdom alliance.
Glavin says Canada also should not be as reliant as it has become on exports, though he’s OK with exports to China of Canadian liquefied natural gas, LNG, to wean China off coal and oil.
But, he asks, why has our country not moved to supply Europe with Canadian LNG?
YOUNG CANADIANS
Glavin says Canada has built a dystopian culture and economy for millions of young Canadians, the so-called lost generation, and we’re seeing that reflected in 50,000 fentanyl deaths. “This is unforgivable.”
He calls for “a massive investment” in the Canadian armed forces’ reserves, which would, among other things, address youth unemployment.
And we need to address housing needs for young Canadians. “How do you raise a family in a 700-square-foot box on the eighth floor . . . and you can’t afford to buy it anyway?”
- Video on Power Struggle’s YouTube: https://youtu.be/d565U1TQp-M
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